Seven Smart Tips for Saving Time with Social Media

As a small business owner your time is valuable.  Use these tips to be well on your way to social media mastery.

In January The Wall Street Journal and Vistage International surveyed 835 small business owners to ask how effective four social media networks are in contributing to company growth.  The question “Which network has the most potential to be beneficial to your company?” resulted in a clear winner:

• LinkedIn 41%
• YouTube 16%
• Facebook 14%
• Twitter 3%

With nearly half of respondents reporting that LinkedIn contributes to their company’s growth it’s clear that the professional networking platform, now in its tenth year, is a small business favorite.  But why are we telling you this?  To help you save time!

Social media takes time – a fact that may be preventing you from doing more.  There are many social networks you could join, but you want to focus on platforms that result in high ROI; this survey suggests LinkedIn is a good place to start.

Focusing on one network that will bring you the most return is one way to control your social media time.  Here are six more:

1. Plan.  Planning takes time initially, but saves it later on.  Rather than post across many networks, find out where your customers and prospects are having conversations and use those sites.
2. Schedule.  Block out a day to write several posts, then schedule when each will go live.  There are services that take care of this, or you can just set reminders. 
3. No notifications.  Turn notifications off so you don’t get an e-mail for every comment.  You’ll still want to monitor who is posting on your pages; do that during your dedicated social media time.
4. Be yourself.  Use your own voice, one that reflects your company brand.  People appreciate a personal approach, and this can differentiate you from the competition.
5. Time yourself.  Set a time limit of the time you want to spend when you go online for social media marketing and stick to it.  You’ll be less inclined to visit your friends’ pages knowing that you’ve got just 15 minutes.
6. Settle.  Settle for good enough with your posts.  Don’t worry about perfection.  Definitely check for spelling and grammar errors, but just jump in with your content.

Do the survey results ring true for you? Is LinkedIn the platform you use the most? If so, comment on this post to share how you use LinkedIn and consider joining our group, The Entrepreneur’s Collective.